As a B2B salesperson, I have HAD IT.
It's just TOO hard trying to herd all the cats I have to - simply to get three people in a web conference for 30 minutes "next week some time." The act of scheduling meetings takes WAY too much time out of my day.
Back in the olden days, I used to wake up at the crack of dawn, and dial a phone (that's pronounced fone for my digital generation readers) to call a prospect to schedule a meeting. And because no one had caller id yet, they used to pick up and talk to me (really they did...it's true!)
On the day of the scheduled meeting, I'd fold my tent and ride my horse to their actual business! Tying up Sophie, I used to knock on an actual door and meet with an actual person in an actual room with an actual table and an actual window overlooking an actual parking lot while showing them an actual value prop on an actual PowerPoint slide-deck (oops, that last part is kinda the same still...)
Ahhh...the good ole days!
Now, don't get me wrong....I understand - heck I even approve - of the new remote workforce.
What do I mean?
I love the fact that ZynBit is spread out across the country and many of us are working from our kitchen tables and home offices and dens (Do people still have dens? Yes, I think the Foxes do down the street. <rimshot>)
I love the fact that I can have customers all over the world - that I can have a demo with a company headquartered in London and then a few hours later, have meetings with people in Sydney, Spain or Saskatchewan!
And I love the fact I can wear a dress shirt, sport coat and a bathing suit and be ready for a business meeting....it's AWESOME!
But here's the thing I am tired of...
Herding cats. Otherwise know as scheduling client meetings with multiple team members across multiple locations or time zones.
Ok, don't look at me like I'm crazy...if you're in B2B sales, you know EXACTLY what I am talking about.
Yes - it's THAT BAD.
There's so many stakeholders and people that need to be in those sales meetings, the simple (HA!) act of scheduling a meeting has become a pain in the old keester. (That's the butt, Bob.)
And for those of us in B2B sales, we know a very inconvenient truth...it's gotten to the point where prospects use "scheduling" as a COVER to NOT meet with us.
Go ahead, tell me I'm being histrionic. (And while you're at it, please tell me what that word means...I missed that day in college. Thanks!)
And what's worse? What's really the icing in the cake? What's really the rock of my Gibraltar?
After I go back and forth with 3, 17 or eleventy-five people and their schedules; after I ask all my pre-qual questions; and then after I finally send the "pre-approved" meeting request with all invitees....now I have to enter ADDITIONAL data entry in Salesforce. All because my BOSS wants my meetings documented in SFDC. Why? I don't know, it was something about "metrics" or "KPIs" or some junk. I don't pay that much attention.
But that's not all - what's the pièce de résistance?
Now that the meeting is scheduled, questions are answered, calendars are synced and Salesforce is updated and I'm ready to move on to my next task/customer/call/hot wing....I get this email from my prospect:
"Derek - one of our stakeholders has a conflict, could we move the meeting 41.7 minutes up? And we have nine more people to invite. Thanks!"
So that's it - I'm done. I'm no longer doing it.
But Derek, you say, tell me how will you schedule meetings with customers?
Tell me how will you keep Salesforce updated?
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you? (Uh, Michael, I told you never to contact me on LinkedIn.)
Well that's what my next webinar is about! (SURPRISE! It's another webinar invite!)
My next webinar is all about Calendar Scheduling!
We're proud to introduce Calendar Scheduling, the new way to schedule meetings and connect with your customers with ease. With Calendar Scheduling, you can easily share your personalized meeting booking page with real-time availability, pre-set meeting types, and pre-meeting questions.
And since Calendar Scheduling is powered by ZynBit and connected directly to Salesforce, the need for double data entry for recording “meetings” into Salesforce simply disappears!
And if you get that email asking you to change stuff around? NO BIG DEAL!
Just make the change your Outlook, GMAIL, OWA, Outlook for MAC or Mobile calendar ONCE and Calendar Scheduling (powered by ZynBit) will do the rest - syncing with Salesforce automagically!
The Webinar is Wed, Jul 26, 2017 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT
If you can't wait and would like to see a real time demo of Calendar Scheduling – here’s my Calendar Scheduling.
It took me 47 years, but I finally have a personal assistant for my inbox!
And now you can too! Bye Bye herding cats!
